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Water levels continue to fall at Hermitage & Mona Dam

For the second time in recent months, the Corporate Area is again facing an impending crisis with its water supply system.

The storage levels at the two main catchment facilities are rapidly declining due to a protracted absence of rainfall which is expected to result in even more stringent water measures for customers of the National Water Commission (NWC).

On Friday, the Commission announced restrictions for customers in the Corporate Area due to dwindling water levels at the country's largest storage facility the Mona Reservoir.

And the situation has worsened in recent days according to Charles Buchanan, the NWC's Corporate Communications Manager.

"The storage levels at the Mona Reservoir are at about 50% capacity (and) this is particular unusual not just because it is at half its normal 809 million gallons capacity, but particularly because of the time of year. Normally at this time of the year, we would be either over flowing at the Mona Reservoir or be very near to over flowing because we would have gotten significant rainfall from the normal rainy September and October months.

"Unfortunately, for most of this year and continuing through September and October, we've received below normal rainfall levels and below normal inflows," Mr. Buchanan said.

He added that the restrictions imposed on customers in the Corporate Area may also negatively affect residents at higher elevations who may experience low water pressure, even when the plant is in operation.

The situation is only slightly better at the Hermitage Dam.

NWC customers served by that facility have been faced with restrictions for the better part of this year.

"It also is not as good as it would normally be for this time of year and the Hermitage Dam is more susceptible to dry conditions because it is a small facility, a fixed dam which is dependent on rivers in the same area," Mr. Buchanan added.

The country was last week warned that the dwindling water levels were cause for concern as meteorologists have forecast the dry spell caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon to continue into next year.

Drought mitigation measures

Meanwhile Dr. Horace Chang, Water Minister, on Tuesday toured NWC facilities at the Mona Reservoir to examine first hand the very low storage levels.

The Mona Reservoir is supplied with water from the Hope River via a canal and from the Yallahs and Negro Rivers by way of a 19-mile-long cross-country pipeline.

The Minister pointed out that the reservoir would normally be over-flowing from the high rainfall received in September and October.

However, very little rain fell in the Hope and Yallahs watersheds for much of this year, resulting in well below normal river flows.

The Minister also stated that the present storage levels are the lowest at this time of year, since the construction of the Yallahs Pipeline in the 1980's.

Dr. Chang appealed for the understanding of affected residents and stated that the NWC and his Ministry are working to implement critical medium and long-term projects to limit the impact of the drought.

A scoring 2010

And weather forecasters in Britain say there is a good chance that 2010 will be the hottest year recorded for the world.

According to new forecasts from the United Kingdom's Met Office climate prediction and research branch, the decade from 2009 onwards suggests that at least half  of the years up to 2019 will be hotter than the hottest year so far, which was 1998.

It indicates that the first of the years to break the current record will actually be 2010.

1998 broke all previous records for the globe, largely because of a very strong El Niño.

The average temperature was 0.5 degrees celsius above the long-term average of the years 1961 to 1990.

                                                                              



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